Chapter Three
Think the Same

A cold wind brushed through the mountains as it mourned some loss, kicking up some of the powdery snow that rested on the stone ground. Stars dotted the blue night sky, joined by two moons, blue and red, that hung stationary and spooky in the darkness. A wolf let out a distinct, lonely howl that was soon joined by others of its kind, and ended by a Yeti roaring its annoyance at its sleep being disturbed. An owl dared to let out a hoot, and the Yeti snarled again, and soon everything was still and silent again.

Conleth shivered softly in the cold, his eyes staring at the darkness dead ahead of him. He wrapped his blue cloak more tightly around his frail body, wincing softly as he touched his bruised ribs a little too harshly. A small fire flickered on the stones and sticks he had managed to find, though the flames were always threatening to extinguish and leave him with no source of warmth. He had his Black Magic, but that seemed to be running dry as the night went on -- it had to be exhaustion causing such -- and he just wished the fire would cooperate and stay. The fire scared off the more primitive animals, and warned the smarter ones that he had some strength still within him despite the exhausting day.

It had been a rough day, from the battle to the aftermath of his escape. He had to have run for miles, heading toward Burmecia, though he could not say why. He should've headed back toward the Lycurgus, but instead his mind had decided to take the opportunity to head away from the miserable battle and the stupidity it brought with it. He had taken his "captive", and fled like a rat chased by a fierce cat, and technically he had been such. He had been a rat who had stolen the cat's food. He had taken the White Mage, the very source of the Chutzpah's survival, and that had certainly gotten them angry enough to hound him until he scrambled over a group of rocks, and plummeted off a cliff. There was no way the Chutzpah would bother following a mage who had seemed to commit suicide.

By some miracle Conleth had thought to use a Slow spell to turn the terrifying plummet to his death into a pleasant descent downward. For a few moments he had gasped, staring with horror at the cliff he had leapt right off of, then finally he took a peak at the ground he was heading toward. It was a good thing he had, too, or he would've been skewered on the very sharp rocks below, regardless of how slow he was going. It was almost as if nature had set up a trap for him and his "captive" for daring to leave the battlefield. At that point convinced that someone was out to get him, Conleth had regardless sent a Meteor toward the ground to shatter the rocks below, leaving an unsteady but at least not deadly hole in the earth. All the time, he cursed himself for not learning how to Warp. It would've been extremely helpful if he could just vanish into thin air instead of scramble with spells as if he were in the dark with no candle.

Despite all the panic and lack of truly useful spells, however, Conleth had managed to reach the earth relatively unscathed, if exhausted. He hadn't bothered to try and find a more suitable place to make camp in the sharp-rocked area. He had simply set the White Mage carefully on the ground, and then headed off to find what he could to make a fire. He found pieces of rock, and an old tree that had long died from lack of soil, and with that, he struggled to make a fire that would care for the fuel enough to stay around. Hours later, he was in darkness, cursing the fire for not being strong enough no matter how powerful his Fira spell was. The White Mage was still unconscious, which only made him more miserable. If she was awake, he could at least try to convince her to use Float to get them out of their situation. His luck couldn't be kind, however, and it had to leave him trapped at the bottom of a cliff like a monster in a cage. He couldn't even sleep without risking the White Mage waking up and use Holy on him to his death. After all, he had no doubt in his mind that the lady was not happy with him for taking her away from the battlefield, where she was needed so badly.

The minutes turned into hours that agonizingly ticked by. Conleth stared sleepily at the sky, watching the stars move about in a circle, and the moons make its way across the sky. It started to seem like some time of hypnosis, to see all the sky move around in a circle, and Conleth's eyelids threatened to close. As midnight passed, Conleth found he didn't have the strength or energy to resist catching a little sleep. He closed his eyes and curled up on the cold ground, the stars spinning within his mind...

Certain things, Conleth found, could wake even the most tired being from a peaceful slumber. One of those things that did a particularly good of waking even the dead was a Holy spell, especially such a spell coming from a very annoyed, agitated White Mage.

Conleth's brain didn't register the purple-white brightness and the almost heavenly array of magic until it was too late to bother trying to dodge. The Holy spell sent him backwards and into a rock, causing his back to scream with pain from the abuse it was being dealt. Gritting his teeth, Conleth managed to catch himself as he crumbled to the ground, and he didn't hit it face-first. He looked slowly, his neck protesting at every minute, toward the fire, and found that his captive was quite awake, quite healthy, and quite angry. Her brown eyes were burning with rage, her red-brown hair in disarray from how quickly she must have moved, and her feet firmly implanted on the ground. Her wand was aimed at Conleth, and the Black Mage knew that unless he said something, and quickly, she was going to kill him without a second thought.

"Hold on...!" Conleth began half-heartedly, having no idea what he was going to say.

"Give me a damn good reason to," the White Mage snapped.

"I saved your life," Conleth said weakly, and to his shock, the White Mage laughed. He couldn't see why she would even bother with such a response, let alone find it humorous.

"Really? That's interesting, because you were the one who kidnapped me. How were you saving me?"

"No, after that. This cliff... If it wasn't for me, you would be dead from falling off it."

"If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have fallen off the cliff in the first place." The White Mage was obviously humored. Conleth was just miserable; his captive had to be incredibly intelligent. It only made his luck even worse, so it naturally had to happen. "Sorry, bad reason. Have any others before I kill you?"

Conleth gritted his teeth nervously, his yellow eyes turning upward as he thought quickly. What could he say? It wasn't like he had anything particularly fascinating in mind. He couldn't say anything about saving her from a bitter world, because he doubted she would even begin to listen to such a thing. Most in the war thought it was perfectly all right to fight over such a stupid feud, and Conleth wasn't going to assume that this Mage was an exception. He had to think of something, though, and quickly. Perhaps something about being a mercenary? She may take it as an excuse to at least let him live a little longer, or not. There was only one way to find out.

"I'm nothing more than a mercenary following orders and I have nothing against your family," Conleth said quickly, taking in a painful breath.

To the Black Mage's shock, the woman paused considerably, fumbling with her wand. Then, further shocking Conleth, she put the wand aside, and sat down next to the fire, which Conleth just realized had held through out the night. Confused, but feeling that he may have said the right thing, Conleth staggered to his feet, and limped painfully over to the fire, where he sat down quietly, trying to ignore his aching body.

"Hold still."

Conleth looked up with surprise, and nearly panicked at seeing the White Mage holding her wand at him again. He became stiff with surprise, then suddenly relaxed when White energy washed over him, giving him energy. The pain throughout his body began to dissipate, then was reduced into a minor ache. The bruises he had suffered from the rocks became painless, then slowly vanished. His ribs became nothing more than a dull pain, and the scrapes on his hands from his rough landing healed and vanished.

Curaga...? Conleth felt like he was in a dream. His captive had just healed him! It made no sense to him. He had kidnapped her, dragged her away from her duties, and now she was healing him in return. Baffled, he looked toward the Mage, only to see she had put her wand aside again and was watching him with obvious curiosity. Conleth very quickly felt like a mouse trapped in a cage; he hated being stared at, and the mage had a stare of someone who was looking straight to your soul. It made Conleth want to either run away, or curl up in a ball. Shame he couldn't do either without looking like an idiot.

"So, you're a mercenary? I never knew mages bothered. Where are you from?" the White Mage asked, only making Conleth even more uncomfortable.

"Um... Daguerreo..." Conleth murmured softly.

"Oh, really? Didn't know they still trained mages there... Hmmm. Interesting." With a nod of her head, the woman turned toward Conleth and held out her hand. "Ida."

Still a little dazed, Conleth shook Ida's hand feebly. "Conleth... Nice to meet--"

"Same here," Ida interrupted smoothly. "You must be paying pretty big money to be still hanging around this stupid war."

Stupid... War...? Conleth could hardly believe what he was hearing. His "captive" called the war "stupid", something he hadn't heard in a very long time, if at all. As his mind finally began to think clearly, Conleth realized that that certainly was why she had suddenly healed him and turned so friendly. They had the same idea about the war that they were fighting. They may be enemies in one sense, but it seemed that they were true allies in a completely other sense. They both thought the war was a stupid idea.

"Well, not much... 2000 Gil per battle..." Conleth muttered quietly. He was about to comment about the comment with the war, but Ida just kept on talking.

"That seems like a hell of a lot to me, considering how many battles are fought," Ida commented. "You must live luxuriously."

"No, not really..." Conleth took a deep breath, and continued speaking before Ida could get another word in. "You think the war is stupid?"

"Huh? Oh, sure! It's damn idiotic. Some stupid feud over who-knows-what that's slaughtering hundreds of lives," Ida spat. "Makes me wish I could just leave the thing..."

Conleth nodded very slowly, but did not inquire further. Apparently if she didn't leave, then there was something that was preventing her from going away from a war she truly despised. Conleth had no idea what it could be, but he also didn't bother dwelling on it. It was none of his business, and he had a funny feeling that Ida wouldn't appreciate him trying to get into her problems, either. He had found that most people didn't like someone who was inquisitive, and Conleth had weeded that trait out of his personality long ago.

Ida also became silent. She had many more questions she wanted to ask, but she had finally come to the realization that she was in a very unpleasant situation. Perhaps she was with a person who was not as bad as she thought, but that didn't stop the fact that she was at the bottom of the cliff, with dawn barely upon them, and many monsters that may have scented them and be hounding them at that point. She didn't fancy the idea of going back to the Chutzpah -- Conleth had gotten her away from them, so why bother going back? -- but she did fancy the idea of getting out of her current situation. Thus, she rose to her feet and began to look around, trying to find a way to get out. She couldn't climb, couldn't teleport, and she didn't like asking others what to do... Then her eyes fell upon her wand, and she grinned at her own foolishness. How could she forget her magic? She had only just used it to hurt, then heal Conleth. She had completely forgotten about her wand while speaking. It was time to bring her powers back into good use, though. Thus, with no other thoughts, Ida called upon the power to Float. She didn't even bother asking if it was all right with Conleth to float; after all, she was sure he would want to get out too.

Conleth barely had time to grab his staff before he and Ida suddenly began to float upward and away from the rocky ground. He looked over at Ida with surprise, only to find her eyes closed, as she channeled her magic into a very powerful Float spell. Taking a deep breath, Conleth looked downward, and was stunned to see how quickly they were moving upward. It made him almost nauseous, and he quickly closed his eyes, trying to ignore his almost swimming mind. White Magic, apparently, gave a very different feel from Black Magic, and he wasn't quite sure he liked the new sensation.

A few nauseating minutes later, Conleth found his feed landing unsteadily on the cold ground at the edge of the cliff. He staggered slightly, only to have him stagger away from the cliff when his instincts discovered that staggering backward meant he'd fall off again. Ida watched with great amusement as the Black Mage fell onto his hands and knees, but at least did not plummet off the edge again. Half of her mind wished he would've, as it would've made her day even more entertaining to see a dizzy mage panic while plummeting to his death. Perhaps she was just morbid from the past days' events. Or maybe she had always been morbid to begin with. It was probably the latter.

"Are you done yet?" Ida finally spat after Conleth had stayed on the ground for five minutes. He was a mage, for goodness sake; surely he could take a simple Float spell!

"If you could help me up, I would be just fine." Conleth's voice seethed with fury at the other's insolence. He would've gotten up if his footing wasn't so unsure, and if he wasn't so terrified that moving even an inch would send him to his doom. Apparently Ida didn't have such worries; he wondered if she had any worries at all. She certainly didn't have any manners. Still, despite her rudeness, she did have enough kindness to gently help him to his feet, and even away from the ledge. If she hadn't then so roughly let go of him that he nearly fell over again, Conleth would've had a flicker of hope in her.

"There. That better?" Ida smirked at Conleth's glare. "Good, because I don't want to babysit you."

"Babysit--?"

"Well, you can't possibly think I'm going to go back to that army, do you? Ha! You gave me exactly the change I needed to get out of there. So I'm going to go head off and have some nice new life that doesn't involve the bloody war. I assume that you're going to go back to the war, since that's where your money is--"

"Well, then you're absolutely wrong," Conleth managed to get out. He was very quickly realizing that Ida was one of those women who began talking and then couldn't shut up; not his favorite type. "Just because I'm a mercenary doesn't mean I'm after the money--"

"Oh really? Then why are you fighting in the war, hmmm? A war that pays 2000 Gil per battle?" Ida smirked at Conleth's glare. "Don't try to fake it, Mage. You're in it purely for the cash."

No point arguing that. The war did give him good money, though now all of it was somewhere in Lindblum, probably being taken by a bunch of soldiers who had declared him dead already. Honestly, he had wanted to desert with all his Gil an eternity ago, but the General had basically threatened him to stay, or he'd be killed. It had been subtle threats, but it had been enough for Conleth to get the idea. Of course, now he was out in the middle of no where with nothing, but it didn't seem like too much of a bad idea to start over. He could probably find some rich family that needed a bodyguard, and make enough money that way to get his own place to stay. Then he could always get training for a new job...

The war still nagged him in the back of his mind, though. People would still die over a useless cause. The loss of two soldiers wasn't going to stop a thing, and now with a healer gone, the casualties would only be more severe. The loss of a mage made things drastic as well; while Mages killed many outright, they also protected many; now that protection was gone. No doubt more people would die on both sides; one had lost a healer, the other had lost a protector. It was all because Conleth had kidnapped Ida, too. It made Conleth's guilty conscience inflate severely. He couldn't just leave all those people to fight and die, over and over again, now that he was free. His mind rejected the notion. He had to be able to do something to stop it all...

"Thank you for listening, Mage."

"Hold on!" Conleth grabbed Ida's shoulder and spun her around, ignoring the death glare she gave him because of it. Let her be mad because he had ignored her; it didn't matter at that moment, or ever. "Are you just going to walk away from all those people dying down there?"

Ida titled her head slightly the side, staring. This Black Mage was certainly stupid. She had also felt a twinge of guilt for leaving everyone behind. She didn't know of any way to stop it. One person, especially such a small, non-influential person like herself, could not stop such a large family feud. It was useless to try. Perhaps when she was stronger and had more support she could try, but at that moment, she could only worry about starting a new life. "Walking away" seemed to be the only choice. Conleth seemed to believe they could do something, which at that moment, seemed very unlikely to Ida. The situation was like trying to stop a river from flowing, or to build a new airship; you could do it, but you needed many people, and plenty of influence. Neither of them had it.

"Well, certainly if I had any idea how to, I would end the stupidity of it all, but it's not like I can do anything," Ida replied smoothly.

"Not like--? Since when? You have no idea if that's true or not!"

"Oh, please. You can't possibly think two people can end the war?"

"Last time I checked, three people started it." Conleth desperately hoped his history books had been right. He swore they said that Treno had initiated the war, and that the skirmishes were just remains of the war, but it could've been inaccurate.

"Good point." Ah, so it hadn't been. Ida's sigh brought Conleth from his temporary triumph, and he watched as she shook her head with completely disbelief. "All right, Mage, it's obvious you want to try something, so tell me, where should we go to try it?"

That was not the reply that Conleth had expected. He had expected grumbling, quarreling, and maybe even a bit of stomping off into the distance, but certainly not quick resignation, then demands. He really had no idea what they would be doing. He had just thought that such a plan would be laid right in front of them, and all they had to do was follow it. It took Ida's question to make him realize that such a think would never happen, and the only thing they could do was randomly guess on where to go, and what to do once they were there. His first thought was that they should go to Alexandria or Lindblum, but his mind quickly reminded him on how incredibly idiotic that would be. It wouldn't take long for them to be spotted wandering around and trying to end the war, and the charge of treason would fall like an axe. Alexandria and Lindblum definitely were not options.

Ida's laughter brought Conleth out of his thoughts, and he immediately glared at the White Mage. She was keeling over from laughter, staring up at Conleth with glittering, highly amused eyes. Immediately Conleth knew what was so hilarious: his stupidity. There he was, planning to save a bunch of lives and to stop a war, and he didn't even know how to begin. Who said he could even stop the war? He was probably aiming for something he couldn't even reach, especially if he couldn't even begin. Yes, he could definitely understand Ida's laughter, and he almost wanted to laugh at himself. He was being a complete and utter fool.

"Well, my stupid Mage, I guess I'd better enlighten you. Ever hear of Burmecia?"

"Yes." Who hadn't heard of Burmecia? Once upon a time Lindblum had beaten it in technology, but then when it got caught up in war, Burmecia had taken the reins. Burmecians weren't afraid of technology and any after-effects it had, and they were the only city on the continent that made good use of gunpowder. They were also secretly watched to make sure they didn't do anything stupid, though the Burmecians kept peacefully to themselves, and didn't bother anyone, except maybe the jealous. "What about it?"

"I can't believe you asked that. Hello! City of Technology? Gunpowder? Some of the best damn politicians in the world? Are you really that thick?" Ida's eyes flashed angrily as she stared down at Conleth, obviously not able to believe he couldn't realize what she was aiming for. "You really are that thick. Burmecia may have someone who knows what to do about the war! It was become of them that it was stopped in the first place, remember? Maybe we can find someone who wouldn't mind stopping it again."

"You did not just say 'we'." Conleth's voice was thick with horror and disappointment. It was bad enough to deal with Ida for five seconds; now she apparently was going with him? He swore she had said that she wouldn't be babysitting him...

"Dammit, you can't think I'm going to go let yourself get arrested or something, do you? You obviously have no idea what you're doing. For a mercenary, you sure are stupid. So, I'm going to come along to make sure you don't mess up. I want to stop this thing too, you know." Ida's tone was resolute, but Conleth decided to meekly try to change her mind.

"You said you wouldn't be--"

"I know what I freaking said, Mage, and forget it! I changed my mind. We're going to Burmecia, and that's it. Okay?"

No, but I don't have a choice, Conleth thought, ignoring a sudden want to smash Ida's face in. It would feel good for about two seconds, before Ida Holied him without mercy. It wasn't worth it, though keeping the mental images of beating up Ida in his head definitely would make the journey pleasant.

"Stop smirking like a moron, Mage, and let's get going."

"I'm not 'Mage'. I'm Conleth!" Conleth shouted, suddenly sick of the lack of disrespect. It was most likely the fact that Ida's loud mouth had shattered any nice mental images he had had. Still, he did have a name, and he had told her it; the most she could do was use it. Perhaps it was too much to ask for from Ida.

"Good for you, Mage. I'm gone." And with that, the White Mage turned around and began to calmly climb higher up the mountain, as if she had done such a thing every day of her life. Her sarcastic, "You think I really care?" tone left Conleth's mood absolutely sour, but something regardless made him slowly and carefully begin to follow the other higher up the mountain. A lack of sanity could be the only thing that could possibly account for it.

You know what? A potty-mouthed White Mage is awesome. Completely and utterly unlikely, but wicked regardless. This chapter was pretty long compared to the others, which is nice, but there still wasn't a lot of description. The next chapter will have some more, I swear. Until then, enjoy this chapter!

Oh, and one more thing... If you have any original ideas for FFIX short stories, e-mail them to me. I want to write a short story, but nothing awe-inspiring is coming to my poor brain. Thank you!

This story is copyright to Breeze. Final Fantasy IX is copyright to Square-Whatcha-M'-Call-It. And I'm copyright to... Wait a minute.